After a 22-day break, the Boston Bruins (32-20-5) are back.<\/p>\n
Seven of them (plus one P-Bruin) were in the Olympics, and four came back with medals<\/a>. The rest enjoyed their breaks and returned to practice on February 18<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Bruins entered the break on a 12-2-3 run dating back to New Year\u2019s Eve. They played well on home ice, especially in January<\/a>, and they are carrying a nine-game home winning streak into tonight\u2019s contest.\u00a0<\/p>\n Tonight\u2019s opponent is the red-hot Columbus Blue Jackets (29-20-7).<\/p>\n The story with tonight\u2019s opponent was their surge after head coach Rick Bowness was hired. Since the change, \u2018Bones\u2019 has led them to a 10-1-0 record since taking over on January 12<\/a>. When the change happened, the Blue Jackets were in last place in the East; now, they are tenth.<\/p>\n And tonight marks Charlie Coyle\u2019s return to the TD Garden. He was traded on March 6, 2025, to the Colorado Avalanche. The Avalanche traded him to the Blue Jackets over the summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n It\u2019s a crucial game as the push for the playoffs picks up. The Bruins are in the second wild card spot, and the Blue Jackets are four points behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n Bruins Morning Skate Notes<\/p>\n The Bruins skated in an optional skate at 10:30 this morning at the TD Garden.\u00a0<\/p>\n Charlie McAvoy<\/a> returned, and Marco Sturm said that his status is to be determined, though the expectation is that he will be ready to go.<\/p>\n \u201cMcAvoy, we will see after practice,\u201d Sturm said<\/a>. \u201cSee how he feels. He just got in.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a long, exciting journey for him, even after they won,\u201d Sturm added about McAvoy. \u201cI just want to make sure he feels healthy, he feels in his mind, ready to go. We talked briefly this morning. We expect him to play, but you never know.\u201d<\/p>\n Sturm also added that everyone else is healthy<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Bruins carried all three rostered goalies, and Sturm announced Joonas Korpisalo as the starter. With Jeremy Swayman returning to the team yesterday<\/a>, he will be watching tonight\u2019s game from the press box.<\/p>\n \u201cSway, we will give him a night off,\u201d Sturm said. \u201cThat was just \u2013 he didn\u2019t play for a while. So, just want to make sure we are going to be careful down the stretch because we need him.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDiPietro will be the backup, with (Swayman) shooting for the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael DiPietro<\/a> will back up Joonas Korpisalo<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Expected Bruins Lines Marat Khusnutdinov \u2013 Elias Lindholm \u2013 David Pastrnak<\/p>\n Casey Mittelstadt \u2013 Pavel Zacha \u2013 Viktor Arvidsson<\/p>\n Mikey Eyssimont \u2013 Fraser Minten \u2013 Morgan Geekie<\/p>\n Tanner Jeannot \u2013 Sean Kuraly \u2013 Mark Kastelic<\/p>\n Defensemen<\/p>\n Nikita Zadorov \u2013 Henri Jokiharju<\/p>\n Hampus Lindholm \u2013 Mason Lohrei<\/p>\n Jonathan Aspirot \u2013 Andrew Peeke<\/p>\n Source: Belle Fraser (Boston Bruins)<\/a><\/p>\n Starting Goalie<\/p>\n Joonas Korpisalo (10-8-2, 3.15 GAA, .893 SV%)<\/p>\n Source: Marco Sturm<\/a><\/p>\n Expected Blue Jackets Lines Mason Marchment \u2013 Adam Fantilli \u2013 Kirill Marchenko<\/p>\n Dmitri Voronkov \u2013 Sean Monahan \u2013 Kent Johnson<\/p>\n Cole Sillinger \u2013 Charlie Coyle \u2013 Mathieu Olivier<\/p>\n Carl Lundestrom \u2013 Boone Jenner \u2013 Miles Wood<\/p>\n Defensemen<\/p>\n Zach Werenski \u2013 Damon Severson<\/p>\n Ivan Provorov \u2013 Denton Mateychuk<\/p>\n Dante Fabbro \u2013 Erik Gudbranson<\/p>\n Source: Jeff Svoboda (Columbus Blue Jackets)<\/a><\/p>\n Starting Goalie<\/p>\n Elvis Merzlikins (11-8-1, 3.49 GAA, .888 SV%)<\/p>\n Source: The Hockey News-Columbus<\/a><\/p>\n Special Teams<\/p>\n The Bruins have seen their special teams fall into two different categories: the power play is incredible<\/a>, but the penalty kill needs some work<\/a>. However, Marco Sturm said that \u201cour biggest homework\u201d over the break was the penalty kill.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Bruins\u2019 power play ranks third in the NHL (26.3%). Since the New Year, they have converted at a 30.4% rate. On the other hand, the B\u2019s penalty kill ranks 28th in the NHL (76.4%). It has not been good since January 1; they have only killed 65.5% of penalties in that frame.\u00a0<\/p>\n In Columbus, the power play is right in the middle of the pack. They are ranked 18th in the NHL at 19.7%. The penalty kill is slightly ahead of the Bruins. They have killed 77.4% of penalties this season and rank 23rd.\u00a0<\/p>\n Since Rick Bowness took over, their power play has scored on 24.0% of chances. The penalty kill has killed off 81.4% of the Blue Jackets\u2019 infractions. Both of those rank 13th in the NHL since he took over.<\/p>\n Season Series<\/p>\n Thursday, February 26: Blue Jackets @ Bruins<\/p>\n Sunday, March 29: Bruins @ Blue Jackets<\/p>\n Sunday, April 12: Bruins @ Blue Jackets<\/p>\n Upcoming Schedule<\/p>\n Saturday, February 28: Bruins @ Flyers, 3:00 PM<\/p>\n Tuesday, March 3: Penguins @ Bruins, 7:00 PM<\/p>\n Thursday, March 5: Bruins @ Predators, 8:00 PM<\/p>\n Saturday, March 7: Capitals @ Bruins, 12:30 PM<\/p>\n Sunday, March 8: Bruins @ Penguins, 4:30 PM<\/p>\n How To Watch<\/p>\n 7:00 PM<\/p>\n TV: NESN<\/p>\n Radio: 98.5 The Sports Hub\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a 22-day break, the Boston Bruins (32-20-5) are back. Seven of them (plus one P-Bruin) were in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":473833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5108],"tags":[3644,5180,95,2154,897,230,5179,58,5,1619,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-473832","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-columbus-blue-jackets","8":"tag-blue-jackets","9":"tag-bluejackets","10":"tag-boston-bruins","11":"tag-charlie-mcavoy","12":"tag-columbus","13":"tag-columbus-blue-jackets","14":"tag-columbusbluejackets","15":"tag-featured","16":"tag-hockey","17":"tag-joonas-korpisalo","18":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116139314720676716","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=473832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/473833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=473832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=473832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=473832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nForwards<\/p>\n
\nForwards<\/p>\n